Poem #22: The Blinking Lamp

Away, away and under

The age old blinking lamp

Sat the two young lovers

Holding their hands.

No longer blinking periodically

Old was the lamp’s attire

A light so dull and devoid

Of the lovers’ passionate fire.

The age old blinking lamp

On the age old winding lane

Stood guard for the couple

Under the oak’s mane.

A sentinel and confidante

To the age-old secret trysts

Stood the blinking lamp

As the lovers so gleefully kissed.

And the two talked

And laughed and loved

As many others had before

And many others will afterward.

Neither was there deference

Nor was there fear

Despite their forbidden trysts

Down the seaside pier.

The sentinel stood still

A witness to time’s fancies

Trees grew old and withered

Dying with the daisies.

The father came to know

The star crossed lovers met no more

One would come and whisper

Cry before the confidante’s door.

They married happily

But not each other, no,

And all that remained of their fierce fire

Was the lamp’s dismal woe.

But such was the case

Of star crossed lovers

And with a sigh, the blinking lamp

Stood guard for others.